Polymer/electrode interaction

Thienyl)ethanol as a starting material will give monomers with an ether linkage in the substituent at the 3-position. Such monomers, once polymerized, have exhibited the ability to complex cations such as Li in a loose crown ether type structure [70]. This in turn leads to enhanced conductivity of the polymer when such cations are part of the supporting electrolyte. An added benefit of electropolymerization of polythiophene originates from the fact that sulfur has a tendency to physisorb to metals such as gold and platinum, which are electrode materials. Hence they may enhance the adsorption of polymer to the electrode and thus improve the physical stability of the system, as well as the extent of polymer/electrode interaction. The synthesis of these type of monomers (e.g., 60) is shown in Scheme 10-28. 

Lo, S.C., et al. 2001. Control of polymer-electrode interactions The effect of leaving group on the optical properties and device characteristics of EHPPV / Mater Chem 11 2228. 

In the many reports on photoelectron spectroscopy, studies on the interface formation between PPVs and metals, focus mainly on the two most commonly used top electrode metals in polymer light emitting device structures, namely aluminum [55-62] and calcium [62-67]. Other metals studied include chromium [55, 68], gold [69], nickel [69], sodium [70, 71], and rubidium [72], For the cases of nickel, gold, and chromium deposited on top of the polymer surfaces, interactions with the polymers are reported [55, 68]. In the case of the interface between PPV on top of metallic chromium, however, no interaction with the polymer was detected [55]. The results concerning the interaction between chromium and PPV indicates two different effects, namely the polymer-on-metal versus the metal-on-polymer interface formation. Next, the PPV interface formation with aluminum and calcium will be discussed in more detail. 

Figure47. Chronoamperometric responses to potential steps carried out using a polypyrrole electrode from -2000 to 300 mV vs. SCE for 50 s, in 0.1 M UCI04 solutions of different solvents. (Reprinted from H.-J. Grande, T. F. Otero, and I. Cantero, Conformational relaxation in conducting polymers Effect of the polymer-solvent interactions. 7. Non-Cryst. Sol. 235-237,619, 1998, Figs. 1-3, Copyright 1998. Reproduced with kind permission of Elsevier Science-NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.)...

A major point of contention involves where radical-radical coupling occurs and whether continued growth is in solution or from the electrode surface. At least some polymerization occurs in solution,7 but how much depends on the experimental conditions employed. This polymer then interacts with the bare electrode or previously deposited polymer as the reaction proceeds to produce the final structure. 

For structuring, the IL has to be immobilised. This can be done using i.e. zeolitic structures or molecular sieves. It is obvious that with increasing surface area of the solid phase, the motion of the liquid and the proton transport will be hindered. From polymerisation experiments it is known that the stiffening of polymers by cross-linking can be compared with the polymer-surface interaction. Electrode surfaces and solids such as silica, carbon black or cathode powder also stiffen the polymer [52]. This can be explained by different transport properties at the interfaces. As a consequence it must be expected that at the surface of the added particles the ionic liquid will behave in a different way than in the immobilised liquid phase. 

The use of CP-coated electrodes for metal electrodeposition, instead of the typical conducting (metal, glassy carbon etc.) substrates, results in the interference in this process of various specific factors that closely relate to the intrinsic propertiesof CPs. Among them are the initial oxidation state of the CP material, its surface morphology and surface chemical state, and also bulk characteristics, such as porosity and metal-polymer chemical interactions. These factors are often inter-related and therefore it is difficult to differentiate clearly their effect on the characteristics of the obtained metal deposit. 

For all kinds of transitions, the system tends to hesitate between order and disorder and is prone to exhibit thermodynamic fluctuations which reflect the search for a compromise between the simultaneous requirements for minimum energy and maximum entropy. As the conducting polymers are pseudo-one-dimensional/two-dimensional systems, the probability of thermodynamic fluctuation increases significantly, resulting in a decrease in the ordered phase. The basic concept is that all electrochemical reactions proceed by adsorption from solution. This amounts to the replacement of solvent molecules by substrate, a process which is simultaneously governed by solvent-electrode, solvent-solute and solute-electrode interactions. Water, which is the most common solvent, possesses a high dielectric constant and, as such, tends to reject at its bulk periphery all molecules with a low dielectric constant. 

Reaction (3) represents two acid-catalyzed ways to produce electroactive (3a) and non-electroactive (3b) polymers. The non-electroactive polymer can interact with the electrode or diffuse into the solution. 

In a study of the interaction between polymer films and the electrode surface used as a support, Tbrsi [970] studied electro-chemically synthesized films of bithiophene on platinum and p-doped Si(lOO). From the infrared spectra obtained ex situ, he concluded that the polymer chains interact via the ir-electrons with the underlying surface. 

Parker [55] studied the IN properties of MEH-PPV sandwiched between various low-and high work-function materials. He proposed a model for such photodiodes, where the charge carriers are transported in a rigid band model. Electrons and holes can tunnel into or leave the polymer when the applied field tilts the polymer bands so that the tunnel barriers can be overcome. It must be noted that a rigid band model is only appropriate for very low intrinsic carrier concentrations in MEH-PPV. Capacitance-voltage measurements for these devices indicated an upper limit for the dark carrier concentration of 1014 cm"3. Further measurements of the built in fields of MEH-PPV sandwiched between metal electrodes are in agreement with the results found by Parker. Electro absorption measurements [56, 57] showed that various metals did not introduce interface states in the single-particle gap of the polymer that pins the Schottky contact. Of course this does not imply that the metal and the polymer do not interact [58, 59] but these interactions do not pin the Schottky barrier. 

Equation (40) relates the lifetime of potential-dependent PMC transients to stationary PMC signals and thus interfacial rate constants [compare (18)]. In order to verify such a correlation and see whether the interfacial recombination rates can be controlled in the accumulation region via the applied electrode potentials, experiments with silicon/polymer junctions were performed.38 The selected polymer, poly(epichlorhydrine-co-ethylenoxide-co-allyl-glycylether, or technically (Hydrine-T), to which lithium perchlorate or potassium iodide were added as salt, should not chemically interact with silicon, but can provide a solid electrolyte contact able to polarize the silicon/electrode interface. 

The recovery of petroleum from sandstone and the release of kerogen from oil shale and tar sands both depend strongly on the microstmcture and surface properties of these porous media. The interfacial properties of complex liquid agents—mixtures of polymers and surfactants—are critical to viscosity control in tertiary oil recovery and to the comminution of minerals and coal. The corrosion and wear of mechanical parts are influenced by the composition and stmcture of metal surfaces, as well as by the interaction of lubricants with these surfaces. Microstmcture and surface properties are vitally important to both the performance of electrodes in electrochemical processes and the effectiveness of catalysts. Advances in synthetic chemistry are opening the door to the design of zeolites and layered compounds with tightly specified properties to provide the desired catalytic activity and separation selectivity. 

An electrode in which an antibody or an antigen/hapten is incorporated in the sensing element is termed an immunoelectrode . The potential response of the immuno-electrode is based on an immunochemical reaction between the sensing element of the electrode and antibody or antigen/hapten in the sample solution. One example of such an electrode is the polymer membrane electrode shown in Fig. 7. The selective response of this electrode to specific immunoglobulins is based on the interaction between antibody in solution and an antigen-ionophore complex in the membrane ... 

A discussion of the charge transfer reaction on the polymer-modified electrode should consider not only the interaction of the mediator with the electrode and a solution species (as with chemically modified electrodes), but also the transport processes across the film. Let us assume that a solution species S reacts with the mediator Red/Ox couple as depicted in Fig. 5.32. Besides the simple charge transfer reaction with the mediator at the interface film/solution, we have also to include diffusion of species S in the polymer film (the diffusion coefficient DSp, which is usually much lower than in solution), and also charge propagation via immobilized redox centres in the film. This can formally be described by a diffusion coefficient Dp which is dependent on the concentration of the redox sites and their mutual distance (cf. Eq. (2.6.33). 

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